


More Than Just a Game for Two

by nicefinalbeam (sparkleboom)



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Loving on the Leader, M/M, Member-Ai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-31
Updated: 2010-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25396849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparkleboom/pseuds/nicefinalbeam
Summary: Love is like a friendship caught on fire.
Relationships: Arashi Ensemble/Ohno Satoshi
Kudos: 1





	More Than Just a Game for Two

**Author's Note:**

> For [](https://dramaticsurgeon.livejournal.com/profile)[dramaticsurgeon](https://dramaticsurgeon.livejournal.com/). Thank you so much for your donation and your prompt. This was an amazing challenge for me, I'm not used to writing much from Ohno's perspective. Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it! :D See if you can catch some of the references. <3

> “Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”
> 
> \- **Bruce Lee**

  
LOVE is like

Well, love is like a bed. It's not the best metaphor anyone will ever come up with (in fact, Nino is probably composing something that will make girls swoon right now), but it's the first thing that comes to Ohno's mind.

Once he thought it was a futon, small and cozy in its place, an equally small and cozy room of the Tokugawa Inn.

But that wasn't it, it's definitely a bed. A western style bed - foreign before, but now familiar.

It's possible that in his situation, he could have been pulled in four directions all at once. Instead there are four bed posts, and they surround him while he sleeps. Sometimes he sleeps until noon. But usually he gets up and leaves and takes care of the things he has to, and that's fine, because the bed's always there at the end of the day.

"Not a love _hotel_ ," Jun rolls his eyes at him, but Ohno sees the way he fails to hide his smile.

"Okay," he pretends to make note of it, fixing his tie and wrapping an arm around Aiba's waist.

a FRIENDSHIP

There's a new junior on the trip to Hawaii, one who joined when no one was paying much attention. He's pretty tall for being a new addition, has an awkwardness about him that makes him stand out. He's not scowling and unmotivated, the signs of being pushed in by a family member, but he's not overly confident and determined to look good either. Ohno thinks this new guy might be more like _him_ than anyone else he's met in Johnny's. Ohno doesn't really have _friends_ among the junior boys.

And though some part of him recognizes that this would be a good opportunity to make a friend for once, most of him is saying not to bother. Because he's only here until he's satisfied, and that could be any day now. Most people don't understand that, but Ohno didn't ask them to get it. He doesn't really talk much at all.

He has no way of knowing that the tall, awkward new kid is going to become important in his life. And that's okay.

Because the guy sitting beside him is important too.

"He wants to play basketball," Sho informs him when he sees Ohno looking, even if it was only a moment's distraction. Because actually, for the past fifteen minutes at least, Ohno has been trying to figure out why a tiny Sakurai Sho has a suitcase the size of two Sakurai Shos (or more).

What is he keeping in there? What _isn't_ he keeping in there?

"Someone told me, I forget who. Probably Nino. It would have been Nino. But Nino lies and you know, he sort of looks like he plays," Sho continues without waiting for Ohno to acknowledge he's listening. Which is dangerous with Ohno. Ohno can sleep with his eyes open.

But he's not sleeping now, he's listening. Sort of. He's also kind of staring at that suitcase. There could _easily_ be a basketball in that suitcase.

"I mean the new Junior, not Nino. It makes you wonder why he joined at all, right? Because this is for idols and idols don't play basketball. Unless they're SMAP, but they're not playing professionally. If Johnny's got a foot in athletics they'd not just take girls' money, they'd take their brother's allowance too. It's actually kind of genius, but they'd have to do it properly."

Sho is smart and has a suitcase as large as his brain.

Ohno laughs. Sho thinks he's laughing about whatever he just said. Probably. Ohno usually pays attention, but he's a little tired right now, and when Sho mentions money it's normally because he's thinking about studying economics. Ohno can remember that much.

"I like your suitcase," he changes the subject, and Sho's face lights up with his smile.

"Yeah? Mom picked it out for me. She doesn't trust me to buy anything for myself."

Ohno has never picked out anything in his life. Well, that's not true. He's picked out plenty of things that he enjoys and his mom hates with a passion. He's frequently reminded of how terrible he is at knowing what he wants for himself. Which he has to believe because his mother _does_ always buy the underwear he likes. And makes the best cream stew.

He didn't pick Johnny's, but Johnny said he could dance.

"Are we sharing a hotel room?" Ohno asks him, running a hand through his hair.

"I think so," Sho confirms.

There's silence for a moment, and Ohno almost turns his head to get a glimpse of that new junior again, but Sho was apparently not finished, just had some lint to pick off his shirt.

"They said we could room with friends."

Ohno's smiling even as Sho slips on headphones and practices his rap. Even as he continues to pick at his fingers and space out a little, his true Ohno way. He doesn't remember picking Sho either, but if Sho's like dancing... he'll keep with him until he's satisfied.

Sho will be the first thing Ohno can't get enough of. Ah, second if he counts that cream stew.

CAUGHT ON FIRE

Jun should know better. He's the one who cues the fireworks, so he should know where they're going to release and shoot up - up and up and up. But Ohno sees him jump backward. If he'd been a centimeter closer he would have lost his strong, Jun face.

It's scary, but fear feeds adrenaline, so Ohno just keeps moving. Waving, bouncing, whatever it is he's doing, because unless it's choreographed beforehand he can't be sure.

He doesn't want to bring the mood down, not for an _almost_ emergency, so he lets the others laugh and playfully push each other (literally and figuratively, "do your best!") as they take off running for a costume change. But he also doesn't want to hold on to the worry that Jun isn't being cautious for another half of a concert.

The stage can be a dream. Not for Ohno always, not when he's embarrassed, but for Jun it's a dream come true.

"Fireworks," Ohno grabs him and plants a firm kiss on his lips, "are dangerous."

In the BEGINNING a FLAME

Nino is Ohno's love at first sight. Their eyes lock for 30 seconds at least. Now they can look into each other's eyes for 30 minutes or more, and everybody finds that gross. They only say it because they want to experience that too, but sometimes Ohno thinks they're right. It _is_ completely disgusting. Or would be if it looked the way it felt.

Because it's just as people say it is, a spark and then a flame. Ohno's been burning for so long now that he'd be ashes, or disfigured beyond all recognition. That would be disturbing. Love is a totally disturbing thing.

But Nino is constant and Nino is warm, and Nino laughs at all the jokes he never intends to tell.

very PRETTY

It doesn't make any patterns or pictures. Even if he stares at it every time Aiba takes his shirt off, he can't suddenly make out a bunny rabbit or the outline of a country (though he wouldn't really know the outline of any countries other than Japan, and maybe Canada if it was a big blob, but Sho stares at it sometimes too and he's never said anything about it).

He still thinks it's the best birthmark he's ever seen. It's almost pretty, how it's just a shade darker than the rest of Aiba's skin if it's summer and he's a bit tan, and Aiba's shirt is mostly off in the summer anyway, when it counts.

"You could be shirtless for my art show," Ohno isn't really asking or suggesting, just informing him that it is good enough to be seen even with other things people are paying to see. That's how pretty it is, at least to Ohno. The celebration of someone as pretty as Aiba Masaki being born, splattered on his pretty arm.

often HOT and FIERCE

He's not sure why they're doing this, his body reacting too fast for his mind to catch up. Maybe it's the thrill of having a plan from this point on, of discovering who they are and how they'll move forward together.

Maybe it's because they're still worked up from the concert and they're all in one room and the air conditioning is functioning at half-power at best. Heat can drive even the sanest person to the edge. His mother smacked him with a rolled up magazine last summer. But he can't think about his mother now, it isn't right.

"Satoshi-kun, you too."

He hears Sho before he feels Sho, arms wrapping around his stomach and pulling him back into the kisses and the touches and the embarrassed faces of young men trying not to seem too needy.

"Yes," he agrees before someone strokes and he tastes.

but still only light and FLICKERING

He knows that he and Nino are practically dating, the way that they share kisses and hold hands, even if they never meet outside of work. But when Aiba looks at him that way, like he's the only other person who could possibly understand him, like he's ready to pull his heart out of his chest and hand it to Ohno (maybe it's made of mabo tofu and _maybe_ Ohno's tempted to eat it), he has to wonder.

He thinks he's dating Nino, but then he thinks he couldn't possibly be, because if he already has the perfect person, why is he only holding on with only one hand, the other reaching out to take what's being offered?

"I've never known anyone like you," Jun snaps him out of his thoughts with a hand pressed carefully, hesitantly to his lower back. Ohno's heart jumps and he closes his eyes.

This really is too much.

As LOVE GROWS older, our HEARTS MATURE

He should give up on the childish idea that they'll be some happy family together. It's one of his favorite dreams, when he can remember it in the morning, but it's completely unrealistic.

He should choose one of them, or none of them, or if he's being entirely selfish and can get away with it - two of them, but the public is watching and one day they'll see through him. All of them. Where are the wives and the children and the apartment for variety shows to crash?

"We've decided that we're best as we are. We are Arashi," he's always wanted to tell reporters. Everyone would laugh and then he and Aiba would have beer after beer and cry because they're just so _happy_.

"I have to move out eventually, right?" Sho points out, not seeming entirely happy with the idea of it, which makes Nino chuckle from the back of the van.

Ohno just got an apartment and he doesn't like it much because he can't remember to put things in his fridge. Maybe he can offer it up to Sho, maybe he can offer himself up to Sho too. That would solve everything.

He opens his mouth, but Aiba starts giggling about something Jun said and the sound suddenly makes him panic.

He needs more time.

and OUR LOVE becomes as coals

Only love. One love. Love situation. Love so sweet. Love Parade.

Not all of that will fit, but he can work with it.

"Only one sweet love for you," Ohno suggests with mouth open wide, as if he just came up with the best lyric of all. The corners of his mouth pull upward until he's beaming at Nino and Sho, because they're smart and they'll appreciate what he just did, and they'll put that in the song for him for sure.

"That might be a bit much," Sho tries to let him down easy. Nino isn't as considerate, just laughs and shakes his head.

"Too much love?" Ohno knows he probably looks hurt. He's not that upset, but they'll feel guilty. Sho and Nino are the least likely to deny him something if he pouts about it.

"There can't be _too much_ love, can there?" Sho mumbles to Nino. Nino shrugs.

"Love love for you," he jots down at the end. Ohno pumps a fist in the air.

DEEP-BURNING

It hurts.

He turns to the other side and it still hurts.

When he thinks about it on the train it hurts, and when he's buying a bento for lunch it hurts, and when Jun smacks him on the back of the head for forgetting to reapply his sunblock it really fucking _hurts_.

"Ten hours," Jun haggles. Ohno isn't pleased.

"Twelve," he argues.

"Eight," Nino chips in and Ohno glares because he's a traitor and a hypocrite and Ohno will set his games on fire. And not put sunblock on them first.

"Twelve," Jun agrees to his previous offer, but Ohno's mad now. He knows they're only doing this because they love him enough to not want to see him in trouble (or in pain), but Ohno loves fishing. And he's not good about loving things briefly.

"Thirteen?" Ohno pretends he's repeating Jun and nods his head, "I think that's reasonable, and I'm the leader, so... all right then. No more than thirteen hours on a boat."

He hears three groans and one 'what?' and feels so good about it that he remembers to say something on camera. Everyone wins.

and UNQUENCHABLE.

Sometimes he thinks he doesn't have any more love to give. He can't possibly keep doing this, day after day, his heart pounding too hard in his chest. He's almost at the age Bruce Lee died. He thinks about that when he's really, really tired.

But then someone offers a shoulder for a five minute nap. He fills up, sighs, and overflows.


End file.
